Picture this: you’ve captured lightning in a bottle and come up with an idea for an amazing new business. You want to represent this idea as the brilliant innovation that it is, so you painstakingly outline every aspect of your brand. Everything goes swimmingly until you realize you’ve hit a major snag: you can’t come up with a satisfying name for your brand.

Though it seems easy at first, coming up with a name for your brand is actually one of the hardest parts of the creative process. Even after meticulously drafting your idea down to the last detail and planning everything from the launch party to the layout of your office, it can be maddeningly difficult to come up with that magic name that perfectly encapsulates your brand. While it may be tempting to settle for the first moderately clever idea that pops into your head, picking a sub-par name on a whim will severely limit the impact and scope of your brand.

These days, having an exciting new business idea isn’t enough. You need to wrap your idea in a brand that’s exciting and nuanced, creating cultural relevance and buzz for your business. The name is the foundation that the rest of the brand stands upon, so it must be created with thoughtfulness and care.

Why a Great Brand Name is Essential

If you think all this talk about the perfect brand name is melodramatic nonsense, think again. A brand name is much more than just a simple identifier. It signifies a brand’s worth, its core values, its aesthetic, its connection to its audience, and more. A brand name is your mission statement and your first impression rolled into one. It’s the first part of your brand that your audience will encounter, so it’s crucial to have a name that immediately captivates them and leaves them wanting more.

Because so much business value derives from your brand’s name, it’s important to give the creative process the breathing room that it deserves. Instead of pulling names out of a hat or indiscriminately hitting random letters on your keyboard, consider the following when coming up with a name or using a brand name generator.

What a Successful Brand Name Does For Your Business

Picking a successful name for your brand contributes to your business in several concrete, tangible ways:

  • Build the cornerstone of your brand

Your name showcases your identity and serves as the blueprint for the rest of your branding and marketing. When Squatty Potty chose its name, it forever established itself as a quirky, self-aware brand that appealed to millennials. Everything that makes Squatty Potty brand memorable can be attributed to the cheeky tone of its name. Can you name any other toilet seat brands off the top of your head

  • Create a bond with consumers

As your first impression, being exposed to your name for the first time is one of the most important interactions between customers and your brand. If your name successfully appeals to your target audience, potential customers will feel a connection right away. Whether your name appeals to their sense of curiosity, their choice of lifestyle, or core values, establishing a connection with your audience from the onset will help transition them into brand loyalists.

  • Drive sales and save money

Engaging names stick with customers, bouncing around in their subconscious and popping into their head at opportune moments. If your brand name is effective, it’ll come to mind whenever your target audience thinks of your industry. However, if a potential customer forgets your name or recalls the names of your competitors before yours, you’ll lose out on both a sale and a possible lifetime customer. With a great name, you’ll save money that would otherwise be spent trying to build repeat customers, as your name will draw customers in and significantly increase their level of engagement with your brand.

Choosing a Name That Fits Your Brand

The vast majority of brand names fit into one of five styles: classic, clever, pragmatic, modern, or emotional. The style you choose determines the tone of your brand, which in turn affects your audience’s perception of your brand. Each style has different advantages depending on your business and the tastes of your target audience. Consider each style carefully, as styles that work beautifully for some brands work disastrously for others. Here’s a detailed look at each style and the types of brands that fit them best:

  • Classic

Classic names are timeless. These high-end names promote themes of prestige, experience, and sophistication. Using these names will tell customers that your brand is enduring and trustworthy. Names like Banana Republic, Polo, and Barnes & Noble sound vintage and established, letting your customers know that your brand is trustworthy.

These names are typically more serious sounding, avoiding the quirkiness or playfulness of other naming styles. Products or services that appeal to high-end customers should gravitate towards classic names as they exude strength, elegance, and class.

Notable examples: Regal Cinemas, Patagonia, Vineyard Vines, Urban Outfitters, Von Maur

  • Clever

Names that use puns, rhymes, and other lighthearted forms of poetic whimsy are usually classified as clever names. The names of these brands stand out for their quirkiness and silliness, which helps them appear casual and approachable to customers. Names like Tik Tok, LuLuLemon, and Piggly Wiggly use poetic devices like rhyming and alliteration, becoming memorable in how catchy and fun they are to say.

If you want your brand to look lively, animated, and energetic, a clever name is the best choice. Whether it’s making customers laugh or roll their eyes, customers associate clever names with wittiness and fun, causing them to correlate your brand with positive emotions.

Notable examples: Seven Eleven, Lollapalooza, GoDaddy, goop, Squatty Potty, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Dunkin Donuts, Chick-Fil-A, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!

  • Pragmatic

Pragmatic names are often descriptive and self-explanatory, which gives them a high value proposition. With pragmatic names, it’s easy for your audience to understand the brand’s services and identity through simple, straightforward names. Names like Dollar Shave Club and PayPal immediately give customers an idea of what they’re getting into, piquing their interest.

Clear-cut, practical names give audiences a strong sense of the brand’s purpose and identity. By efficiently communicating these ideas, brands can bridge the gap between customers and themselves, leading to higher consumer engagement.

Notable examples: Weight Watchers, (blank) for Dummies, Beef Shack, LoanSpring, Health & Fitness, Cars.com

  • Modern

If you’re looking for a name that is more standout and subversive, a modern name is what you’re looking for. Extremely popular among tech startups and fashion labels, modern names are more abstract than other types of brands, inspiring intrigue within customers.

Apple is easily the most famous example of an out-of-the-box modern name. By naming itself after a common household item, Apple expressed its mantra of accessibility and unconventional thinking. Other modern names, like Accenture and Skullcandy, transmute or combine existing words in order to give existing words new meanings. Whether it’s an abstract, made-up word or a remix of an existing word, modern names turn heads and convey a sense of trendiness and innovation.

Notable examples: Tinder, Hulu, Amazon, Zappos, Boring Company, Vimeo, Uniqlo, Zara

  • Emotional

Emotional names appeal to your audience’s emotions (obviously) by evoking feelings of warmth, gravitas, and familiarity. They grab the audience’s attention with bold, powerful language. These names can provoke strong reactions within your customers, including their sense of righteousness (Greenpeace), their rebellious spirit (Riot Fest), their sentimentality (Best Friends Animal Society), and other passionate feelings.

Emotionally-charged brand names are especially effective for brands that are non-profit or politically inclined. Appealing to the emotions of your audience can make them feel genuinely engaged with your brand, making it a part of their identity and ideology.

Notable Examples: Triumph Motorcycles, The Humane Society, Doctors Without Borders, Salvation Army, Honest Company,

Putting Your Name Into Practice

Once you’ve narrowed down your list of potential names, it’s important to put these names through some hoops to make sure that they resonate with your target audience.

A major aspect of brand naming that many people don’t consider is functionality. In naming, functionality refers to how easy it is to communicate your name through speech and print. There are three main points to consider:

  • Read to Speak: Can people easily say the name aloud after reading it? Do they pronounce it correctly?
  • Hear to Spell: Can someone easily spell your name after hearing it? Would they be able to Google search it after hearing it once?
  • Speak to Hear: See if your name passes the “crowded bar test”. Would somebody be able to clearly understand your brand name even if it was spoken in a crowded bar? Would whoever heard it be able to repeat the name back in the same situation?

If you want people buzzing about your brand and spreading organic referrals, then you need to make sure that your brand name is highly functional.

The other important phase of performance testing is audience testing. In a nutshell, audience testing is a series of surveys or tests in which your shortlist of brand names is presented to members of your targeted audience. Here are some tips on optimizing the usefulness of your audience tests:

  • Combine the results of similar names – By separating the results of similar names like Nestlogy and Nestology, you potentially skew the data by accidentally splitting the vote.
  • Don’t ask the audience which names they “like” – Asking audiences which names they like is too vague and general to be useful. To gain more valuable insight, ask more specific questions that compare names with each other. For example, you could ask “Which of these bottled waters would you be interested in trying?” or “Which one of these bank names sound the most trustworthy?”
  • Do not make comparisons to established brands – No matter how nifty you think your shortlist of names is, audiences will almost always choose established brands over unfamiliar names when a comparison is being made. It’s far more efficient to gather data when you’re comparing names on your shortlist against each other.

It’s not uncommon for audiences to resonate with unexpected names from your shortlist. Ultimately, it is their opinion, not yours, that matters most. Be prepared to give up on favorites if they don’t connect with audiences. The main reason audience tests are so helpful because they can let you see past your own perspective and get into the mindset of your eventual target demographic. Don’t take the direct input of your audience for granted.

Master of Your Domain

Having a domain that matches or is similar to your new name is an invaluable part of your brand’s online presence. Every year over 627,000 new startups spring up, making domain names an increasingly scarce brand resource. This can make it difficult to find a domain that both matches your brand name and is easy to remember.

Domain names made up of a single common English word (like honey.com) are the most expensive domains you could get. Short length and familiarity are both highly desirable traits for a domain, as they bring the highest amount of traffic. If you’re having a hard time finding a domain that exactly matches your brand name, consider adding another word to the address.

While an exact match domain is almost always better, some companies choose to put add-ons in their domain. For example, let’s say you decided to name your new tech startup Hot Coffee, and you love the name and are bent on keeping it. If you find that the domain HotCoffee.com is already taken, you can use the domain HotCoffeeTechnology.com or GetHotCoffee.com instead. If it’s not financially or logistically possible for your business to get the exact match domain name, putting an add-on in your domain is the next best thing.

Similar limitations often pop up when you seek a trademark for your new brand name. Single English words, especially “power words” like force, icon, or omni, are notoriously difficult to trademark. Your ability to obtain a trademark is dependent on the likelihood of confusion between your brand name and established trademarks. For example, it would be extremely difficult to trademark a burger joint called “Donald’s” due to the high chance customers would confuse it with McDonald’s. If you’re going for a trademark that involves a common or iconic word, always have a backup plan in case your application is shot down.

It’s All In a Name

As you know by now, choosing a name for your brand is a much more complicated process than just throwing ideas at the wall until one sticks. In addition to meeting the criteria of trademarking and domain names, your brand name must clearly and functionally communicate the core values of your business. Not only that, but your name must stylistically match with the tone of your brand, allowing it to form a lasting connection with your targeted audience. By following our guidelines, your brand name will support your success and tell your brand’s unique story.